A Misunderstanding
by DanniV
Summary: After the success of In Cold Blood, Capote teams up with the Innocence Project. To help raise awareness, he publishes a short story on their latest case. He pulls out all the stops; reading police reports, medical files, court transcripts, and he interviews family and friends of both the accused and the accuser. Can he piece together the real story & hopefully provide some peace?


**AN: **Be gentle, I wrote this in high school (7 years ago). My class read "In Cold Blood" and was learning about Capote's writing style of journalistic fiction. Our assignment was to take a newspaper article and use it as the base for a story. I chose an article about the "Innocence Project" – they helped exonerate a man who had spent 27 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit because of wrongly interpreted DNA evidence. The facts about the case are from the article but the names, back story, and the personalities of all characters belong to me.

Two important things: 1) this court case happened almost 35 years ago... DNA evidence is a lot more accurate now and 2) even though Elizabeth is drinking she is in no way responsible for what happened to her. In my eyes both Elizabeth and Charles are victims of the system.

**Trigger Warning: **depictions of rape and court testimony from survivor's pov.

* * *

**A Misunderstanding**

* * *

Morning dawned over the prison grounds as it slowly came to life. It was a normal day for the guards and the inmates; the same never ending cycle, save one. Charles Chatman has been an inmate here for the last twenty-seven years. He is being release today – he gets to go home. He has packed his bags and waits with his small box of belongings on his lap. His face is blank as he stares at the clock on the wall. Only his tapping foot gives away his excitement.

He hears the door at the end of the hall open and his foot stills. He still can't believe he is really leaving. He never thought he would see the outside world again, not with a ninety-nine year sentence on his head. And a guy like him doesn't get parole with his kind of charges. Not only was he getting out, he was being released with the apologizes of the court.

The guard reaches his cell and unlocks it, "Let's go Chatman, don't wanna keep your pretty little sister waiting now do we?"

Not responding, Charles stands up taking his box and follows the guard out of the cell. They pass other inmates as he leaves. Most stare jealously or ignore him. Others call out catcalls and obstinacies, there are even a few sincere good wishes mixed in.

He ignored them all as he stared straight ahead watching the door at the end of the hall get steadily closer. The door buzzed, unlocking to let him and the guard through. They walk through another door before climbing the five flights of stairs to the visiting rooms. But they pass those and go through a different door. And there was his sister, 'Daisy' signing his release papers.

She stands up when she sees him. The guard unlocks Charles's cuffs and goes behind the desk.

Daisy smiles at Charles sadly before turning to the guard, "Is he free to go, sir?"

The guard waves them off, turning to walk into the other room – forgetting them – Charles was always being forgotten, just another face in the crowd. However the one person who had remembered his face, had placed any significance in his insignificant existence, was the one person who, above all others, he wished had just left him alone.

She shall be called Elizabeth Smith, in respect of her privacy. Elizabeth is now a fifty year-old woman. She lives alone. No husband. No children. Just memories. Horrible memories.

But she wasn't always like this. One day – one night changed her and Charles's lives forever. That day in 1981 would haunt their lonely lives from that day forth.

* * *

Elizabeth was laying in bed. She pulled a pillow overhead as a groan escaped her mouth. Another morning. Another hangover. She and her friends had gone out clubbing the night before, and like most nights she had gone a little over board on the drinks. But it had been Gwen's birthday and she had just been having a good time. Tonight – if she survived the long arduous workday – she would do it all over again.

Elizabeth was in her early twenties. As she said, "I didn't do the whole college thing, couldn't afford it and even if I could have, I didn't have the grades. Stupid school."

She worked at a little grocery store in town called "Billy's Market." It wasn't glamorous but it paid the bills and didn't require a lot of thinking, which was great for days when she had hangovers, which were most days.

Looking at her alarm clock she groaned again and headed for the shower. After dressing she grabbed an apple before going to her car. Hurrying down the front walk she happened to glance down the block as a car stopped in front of her neighbor, Charles's house. It must have been his sister. He worked in her little sandwich shop and since he didn't have a car, his sister gave him a ride every morning. Sure enough Charles came walking out of his house and hopped into the car.

Elizabeth knew very little about this man. They lived in different worlds. He was a black man in his mid twenties. They just didn't mix. In her opinion he was just another guy. That morning she barely gave him a second thought. But she would later recall that there was something "off" about him, and that he scared her.

As their two cars drove off in separate directions, neither knew that their paths would not stay opposite for long.

* * *

Charles was a simple man. He got up, went to work, and made small talk with the patrons of the sandwich shop his sister owned called Daisy's Sandwiches. Sure he had wanted more, but he hadn't made the right choices in life to take him to college. He wasn't a bad kid. No record, no detentions when he was in school. "Just wasn't one of those nerdy kids," Charles said.

Walking into his sister's shop, he headed for the kitchen as Daisy got the front of the shop ready for customers.

"Gonna be a long day Charles," she said pulling the chairs off the tabletops.

They had a birthday party of fifteen fifth-graders coming in today. It was going to be busy all day.

Daisy watched her brother warm-up the kitchen for the day. "He wasn't the brightest boy, never was, but he had a good heart. He never complained about work. He was always willing to work long hours to help me out," Daisy remembered fondly.

The day passed in chaos. Charlie baked up a storm in the kitchens and even came out to play with the birthday party kids.

"They thought of him as one of them. They liked hanging out with Charlie," said Mrs. James, a frequent customer at the little sandwich shop, "He was a simple boy but he had a way with the kids. They couldn't get enough of him."

It was getting dark out when the last customers was finally gone. Locking the door behind Eddie, one of the town's chatterboxes, Daisy leaned against the door in relief smiling tiredly at Charlie. She went to grab a broom from the closet as Charlie wiped down the tables. They had the cash register to balance and the food orders to write-up. Daisy looked up at the clock and realized they were in for a long night.

* * *

Elizabeth pulled into the Grocery parking lot; she was running late and needed to get inside fast. Grabbing her purse and apron she ran for the doors, sliding past an older man, yelling "Excuse me!" over her shoulder as she raced for the punch clock.

Click.

She sighed from relief and tied on her apron before heading to the register to start bagging. She forced a smile as she gritted out "paper or plastic?" She hated this job. And the hangover she was nursing wasn't helping the hours go by any quicker.

She had always wanted to be one of those businesswomen who wore the pencil skirts and the nice white blouses. "Sadly Elizabeth didn't have the parents to push her or the mindset to care about school work. She preferred going out on dates and to parties, She was very popular around here but she didn't apply herself," said her school guidance councilor.

When college came around, reality sunk in and Elizabeth's dreams of pretty white blouses were replaced with the reality of ugly green aprons during the day and slinky black dresses for clubbing at night.

"It pays the bills," she reminded herself as she helped a chatty old lady to her car. Looking up the sky she smiled for the first time all day. It was almost dark out. She would be going out soon. Laughing she had a bounce in her step as she walked back into the store.

An hour later she retrieved her purse from her locker and punched out her time card. Hurrying to her car she checked her watch. She had to hurry, her friends were picking her up in an hour and a half and she needed to get ready. She grumbled to herself, "We wouldn't need to start the evening so early if we were gonna stay out late."

Freddy, a businessman's apprentice, the only successful one of Elizabeth's friends, had a meeting early tomorrow, so they were going to have to call it an early evening since he was the designated driver. After a quick shower she did her hair. Holding her towel around her she sighed at her pitifully small wardrobe. "I need to go shopping," she thought before shimming into her faithful fire engine red spaghetti-strapped dress.

Just as she was finishing her makeup she heard a honk from the driveway and knew Freddie and her friends were there. Racing out of the house she hopped into the car. Freddie checked her up and down in the review mirror before pulling out of the driveway. "Nice outfit there, Lizzy!"

"Oh hush up and drive, Freddie," Elizabeth said smacking the back of his head.

"She hated when people called her that. Only her parents called her that and they weren't a part of her life for a reason," Elizabeth's best friend Gwen recalled, "she was very touchy about her name. I think she still fancied herself with a bright future. But she was no better then the rest of us. She was going to be on this level of society forever. No chance of improvement, not unless you count her maybe making manager of the store, and even that wasn't likely with the way our group partied back then."

* * *

When they arrived at the club, Gwen whispered a sweet little sentence or two into the bouncer's ear, leaning over more then needed to reach his ear, giving him a good view down her halter-top. He smiled wickedly at her and let the party of five into the club.

Walking through the door, Elizabeth was instantly hit with a shock wave from the huge ceiling-high speakers on the far wall. Elizabeth headed for the bar while her friends got a table. "She must have had two shots before she had even been in the club five minutes," the bartender 'George' said.

"She was one of our regulars. Hadn't seen her in awhile. Think she and her friends had been partying up the street at the new club, Flamingo…something; it had just opened up. I knew what to get her before she even opened her mouth. When you work at my profession, you get to know the crowds and what they like. Anyway she ordered four beers and a club soda for I think it was Freddie who was driving that night. She also ordered a round of shots for her table before slinking off to the dance floor to find some drunken rich sucker to pay for her drinks. She never came up empty handed."

She danced until she was sweating and needed a drink. Stumbling back to the table with her new-nameless rich friend. She motioned for George to bring another drink over.

"The guy was trying to put the moves on her putting his hand on her leg and trying to kiss her. But Liz could hold her own," the bouncer Johnny said. "She wasn't a little sissy, she could get herself out of a tight spot, at least when she was sober. She didn't look too far-gone when Freddie finally dragged her and her friends home. She was a little clumsy but most of our patrons are, I didn't think anything of letting Freddie take her home. He was stone-cold sober, he would get her home fine."

Elizabeth was the first stop on the drive home. Freddie helped her into the house and sat her down on the couch before using the key under the mat to lock the house up behind him. Then he drove away not knowing that he was leaving his friend in danger.

* * *

"The house was locked up good. The key was under the mat. Obvious place to hid a key but the five of us were the only ones who knew that it was there. It made dropping each other off drunk easier. God I wish I had put her in bed before leaving. Maybe she wouldn't have heard the knock," Freddie would later tell police when he was questioned.

"911!?…."

"Yes ma'am what is the nature of your emergency?"

"Oh god…oh god," The voice wailed through the receiver."

"Ma'am what is wrong? Are you all right? Do I need to send an ambulance?"

"I…I…I've been raped."

"Ma'am what's your name and address I'll send a squad car and an ambulance right away. Just remain calm."

"Mmmmy name…. Elizabeth…. Ssssmith."

"Elizabeth help is on the way. I want you to stay on the line with me. Have you showered since the rape?"

"No…oh god I feel filthy…that horrible black man…why did he do this to me. I never did nothing to him…never even talked to him really."

"Ma'am calm down and try to breath. Do you know who your attacker was?"

"Mmmmy neighbor…oh god…I…I can't deal… with this." The phone line went silent as she crashed to the floor in a dead faint.

* * *

_Police Report_

_Filed by: Officer Daniel Griffin_

_Police arrived at the scene to find the front door open with no sign of forced entry, and the victim, twenty-two year-old Elizabeth Smith unconscious on the living room floor. Her clothes were torn and ripped. Her underwear was across the room but from the marks on her face they had been used to gag her so her neighbor wouldn't hear her scream. When she was revived she couldn't form cohesive sentences. She smelled of alcohol and her voice was slurred. She was taken to the county hospital to be treated for rape and assault. Nothing seemed to be missing from the house. Her dress was taken as evidence, which had what the police believed to be semen on it. _

_It wasn't until the next morning that we could get a name out of Miss Smith. When she finally gave us the name she burst in to hysteria again. I immediately called in the name and address. A squad car was sent to Charles Chatman's house. No one was there but a neighbor said we could find him at Daisy's Sandwiches a few minutes away. Charles came without a fight but refused to admit to anything during questioning insisting that he was with his sister at the shop for most of the night. Daisy Chatman confirms his alibi but there were no other witnesses to his whereabouts that night._

* * *

Elizabeth shook as she sat in the witness stand. She hadn't wanted to testify hadn't wanted to face him. But her lawyer told her that the jury would make Charles's sentence longer if they could connect the crime to a face. So there she was telling her side of the story.

"I was enjoying my buzz as I flipped through channels. It wasn't that late and I didn't feel like going to bed even though I had work in the morning. Then I heard a knock on the door. I didn't know who it was. I saw a black man standing on my step with his back to me and his hands in his pockets. I was surprised but opened the door to him. Don't know why I did but I wasn't thinking right that night. As soon as the door was open, he flipped around and pushed into the house. He grabbed me and closed the door. He dragged me into the living room," Elizabeth had to stop to keep herself from breaking down. "He tore off my clothes and pushed me against the couch. I kept screaming 'no no please don't do this' but he wouldn't listen. That's when he gagged me so I couldn't make any noise. I fought him but he was so strong. There wasn't anything I could do, so I just stopped fighting. I just…I just hoped he would finish and leave. I think I blacked out after awhile, it seemed like it took forever, because when I woke up he was gone and I was alone. That's when I called the police."

"Thank you Elizabeth," her lawyer Rachel Huntington said, "Your Honor no further questions."

Charles sat in wonder as he listened to Elizabeth's testimony. His whole world came crashing around him. How could she lie about that? Why was she blaming it on him? He didn't touch her! He had been at the shop until well after eleven. He had come home and went straight to bed. This woman was obviously raped, or a good actress, but it wasn't by him.

Daisy watched helplessly as the judge sentenced her innocent brother to ninety-nine years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It couldn't have been him. Charles and she had been in the shop placing orders and paying bills late into the night. Yet some how they had forensic evidence that proved that it was him plus the testimony of Elizabeth. Daisy hated that woman for what she was doing to Charles, hated her so much. Daisy wanted to scream at her that she was ruining an innocent mans life, as Miss Smith walked crying out of the courtroom after Charles was sentenced.

But she didn't she walked out to her own car, ignoring the reporters who kept thrusting recorders in her face asking questions. Black man rapes White woman would make the second page. The city government would congratulate themselves on getting another menace off the streets when Daisy knew that they were locking up an innocent man. She got in the car and started to cry. She knew her brother would never see the outside a prison again.

* * *

**7 years in prison**

"Charles the parole board has recommended you for early release," Charles's court appointed lawyer told him on one of his few visits, "all you have to do is confess and say that you are sorry."

"I didn't do it Paul. I didn't do it and you know that. I'm not doing to confess to a crime I didn't commit."

"You are never going to get out of here then. They have forensic evidence. They got you son. Just confess so you can get on with your life."

"No," Charles said getting up and walking over to bang on the door. As the guard led him back to his cell, he called over his shoulder, "The forensics are wrong Paul, they have to be. I wasn't near that house that night."

Elizabeth had started to see a shrink right after the court hearings were over. She just couldn't deal with the pain of that happened to her. When the shrink's useless advice didn't help she returned to partying and drinking. But her friends were all starting to settle down and get married. They didn't have time for their drunken wreck of a friend anymore.

"We felt horrible for her, but there was nothing we could do," Gwen said sadly, "She had nightmares all the time. She just kept reliving that night over and over again. She was a wreck. I tried to be there tried to help but after a few years, it wasn't healthy for me anymore. I was married and had a daughter that I had to take care of. I couldn't look after Elizabeth too. I check up on her from time to time. Cook her dinner and help her keep the house clean. But other then that I think she is alone. She goes to work, comes home and gets drunk. Then does the same thing the next day. I don't say I blame her. I guess being drunk is easier then remembering."

* * *

**15 years in prison**

"Your up for parole Charles. It doesn't matter anymore just tell them you did it and you can get on with your life."

"Paul you know I can't do that," a sad a worn Charles ground out though clenched teeth. "It would be so easy to lie. So easy to get out. But I didn't do it. I'm not gonna play that game."

"Please Charles beat them at their own game. Just give them what they want. The parole board can't release you with out a confession."

* * *

**26 years in prison**

"I came as soon as I got the call Charles, they said you said it was important?"

"Paul I was reading about that guy in Nebraska that got out on retested DNA. Reopen the case Paul. Get them to retest the DNA on the dress. Please get me out of here." Charles threw a newspaper article at Paul across the table. It was about this new machine that the courts were using to retest DNA in old cases to convict attackers who they couldn't stick with the crimes years ago. "If it can prove these guys guilty it can prove me innocent."

"I don't know Charles, it still a new procedure."

Charles has started to turn gray now. He is slowing down, in his fifties now he had almost given up on ever being free. But this, this DNA tester had brought hope back to his empty eyes.

Paul looked at the man he had grown close to over the past twenty-six years. This man didn't have a bad bone in his body. Paul knew that Charles couldn't have raped that girl all those years ago. He hated to see his friend rotting away in this cell, "I'll make the necessary calls, Charles. But don't get your hopes up friend I don't think I can take it if your hope gets crushed."

"My hopes were crushed twenty-six years ago Paul. Make the calls," Charles said with a sad smile.

Clapping his friend on the shoulder as he left the desperate man alone, "I'll get you out of this Charles, I swear I will."

Charles walked back to his cell that night, feeling a little less alone and hopeless for the first time in twenty-six and a half years.

* * *

It took Paul a few days to make the proper phone calls and file the necessary paperwork but he soon had Charles's name tacked onto the bottom of the long list of prisoners who were hoping for the same thing Charles's was hoping for – a chance at life again. Five months later Charles's name finally came to the top of the list and his lab-work was redone. The results concluded without a doubt that Charles was innocent. The attacker had indeed been a black man, but it had not been Charles. After almost twenty-seven years in prison, Charles was going to be released.

* * *

Elizabeth was eating breakfast as she read the paper, when the phone rang. It was Gwen.

"Liz, did you see the paper. He got out. They let Charles out on retested DNA evidence. Sweetie don't you move, I'm coming right over. I'll drop Becky at my mom's and be right over. Just stay calm until I get there…Liz you there? Liz? Don't worry Liz I'm coming!"

It was eight thirty in the morning but Elizabeth, now fifty, was piss drunk. She had read the article as soon as she hung up on Gwen and then grabbed her bottle of vodka from the shelf and emptied it into her system. She was passed out on the couch when Gwen, using the spare key under the mat found her in the living room.

"Oh sweetie," she whispered seeing the empty bottle of vodka on the floor. She hurriedly called 911 for an ambulance.

"Miss Smith came to half way to the hospital and started screaming and yelling that Charles was going to get her. That she had to get away," reported the EMT on duty that night. "She kept saying 'they wrong they wrong! He did it! The results are wrong. Oh God he's going to come and get me again.' Then I think she saw that my partner, Andrew was black because she pointed at him screamed and passed out again. She didn't wake again until we got her in the hospital and pumped her stomach."

* * *

Charles and Daisy walked out of the prison and to her car. They had sold his house years ago, never dreaming that he would be released. He would be staying above the sandwich shop until he could find something else. They got into the car and drove through the prison gates. As the car cleared the gate and it closed behind them, Charles put his head in his hands and broke down in a fit of body wracking sobs. His sister drove a little bit away from the prison, until it was out of view, before pulling over and holding Charles as he cried.

It was finally over. He was finally free. The future wasn't certain yet. He had to adjust to a new society that had changed quite a bit since he was locked away twenty-seven years ago. But as brother and sister sat in their car on the shoulder of the road. As they cried for the joy of freedom. That didn't seem to matter. All that mattered was that he was free.

As they started off on their three-hour drive home, Charles watched the buildings pass. His thoughts wandered and he hoped that Elizabeth was okay. That whoever the man was who was running free, that had ruined his life almost three decades ago, had not damaged her life as horrible as the man had destroyed his. For they were both victims, just trying to survive in the face of horrible circumstances and one big misunderstanding.


End file.
